Nuakhai

 

Nuakhai: The Festival of Reconnecting Family

Webster’s Dictionary defines the term Festival as a day or time of religious or other celebrations marked by feasting, ceremonies or the observance. Festival is celebrated by one religious or sub group, group, a tribe or a community with exceptions to few individuals. Foods, sweets, fruits, nuts etc. prepared during the festivals are specific.

Anna, the central point of life circle of the Universe. Anna refers to rice or main food of that community. In Odia it is said that “Peta pain sabu nata”. Especially, in India’s maximum festivals are based on agriculture, food, soil etc. These festivals are celebrated for showing gratitude towards God and express their thankfulness.

 Therefore, the following verse is told by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in Bhagavat Gita:

“Annat bhavanti bhutani parjyanat anna sambhava

 Yajnat bhavanti prajanya jagnya karma sambhuvah

Karma brahmobhavam vidhi brahmakshara samudhavam

 Tasmat sarvagatam brahma nityam jagnye pratisthitam.”

 

Nature poet Gangadhar Meher also depicted the importance of anna in the following verse:

“Anna eka atai visva muladhara

 Ekavakye samasthe gayaho annara jayakaraho”

 

Sambalpuri culture is dominant in the western part of Odisha. Being highly populated with tribes and have the general occupation of agriculture, one major festival of Sambalpuri culture is Nuakhai. Nuakhai is celebrated for welcoming of first harvesting of the season to home. What query arises in your mind, listening the word Nuakhai? Nuakhai consists of two words Nua and Khai. 'Nua' means New and 'Khai' means eating. Nuakhai also known as ‘Nabanna’.  

Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India. Nuakhai was observed to welcome the newly harvested rice of the season, so this festival includes worshiping of the new harvest crops and celebrate it with eating together.  According to the Hindu calendar, it is observed on Panchami Tithi (the fifth day) of the Suklapaksha (lunar fortnight) of the month of Bhadraba (August-September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. This is the most important social festival of Western Odisha. Nuakhai is celebrated both at the community and domestic level. It is also called as Gana Parba.

                

Indian society always has a history of maintaining and nurturing the joint family system. It had been always a sustaining reason for Indian culture. But with the onset of modernization and globalization, a chain of transformation has taken place in all social institutions of almost all the societies. From individual to family and various institutions of society are getting affected by this global changing phenomena and Indian families are no exception to that. The joint family system is slowly disintegrating into nuclear and extended family systems. But, one factor that has to be accepted is the tendency of Indian families to maintain 'togetherness' even in nuclear structure and the emotional bond between kith and kin. To keep this bonding tight, the Indian culture passes many traditions from generation to generations. One such kind of tradition is celebrating festivals together. Festivals serve the same value of the joint family system of bringing the generations together under one roof. These festivals propagate the value of 'we-feeling among the family members'. The Indian people still keep intact the family attachment and live their traditional morality. Thus, Nuakhai is called as “A Festival to Strengthen Family Bonds”.

Beyond the importance to the agriculture and grain, Nuakhai brings a sense of belongingness to the family members, which act as a driving force for the family members to join together. It is an annual opportunity for them to get together with the extended family. For migrants visiting their home place, the festival arena might represent positive values by having a “good time” and strengthening the connection to their place of origin. Old rivalries and bitterness are consigned to the dustbin. This is the instance of a union of family members and annual get-together. These festivals were much important for the younger generations; because of the coming together during festivals, they can ably understand the kinship relationships among them. They could identify and attach themselves with the larger family, which creates a feeling of social protections among them.

 

 Historical Background

According to oral traditions in Odisha's agrarian societies; 12th century AD when the first Chauhan Raja Ramai Deo used to rule this region. He would have established the princely state of Patnagarh, an integral part of the Western Orissa's Balangir district. The Chauhan rulers borrowed and adopted the tribal philosophy of Nuakhai and fused it with dhan (paddy). They developed this Nuakhai concept, popularized and spread it and adopted nua-dhan in different parts of their kingdom. They Sanskritised it and converted it into a national festival of Western Odisha. As a result of this, Nuakhai became the festival of all and stood for a larger society, where both the tribal people and caste Hindus reside together.

 Nuakhai became the source of unity between them. It brought people, irrespective of their ethnic background, under the control and authority of the rulers so that they could consolidate and strengthen their Rajya in Western Odisha. The newly harvested rice is believed to be very sacred. Even in the age of science and technology, Nuakhai has not lost its significance with the rituals still being adhered to.

Preparation:

Nine colours of Nuakhai-

People in the Western Odisha region initiate preparations for the event 15 days in advance. Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence, nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration. These nine colours include:

1.   Beheren: announcement of a meeting to set the date

2.   Lagan dekha: setting the auspicious time for partaking of new rice

3.   Daka haka: invitation

4.   Sapha sutura and lipa puchha: cleanliness of home and surroundings

5.   Ghina bika: purchasing

6.   Nua dhan khuja: looking for the new crop

7.   Bali paka: final resolve for Nuakhai by taking the Prasad (the offering) to the deity

8.   Nuakhai: eating the new crop as Prasad after offering it to the deity

9.   Juhar bhet: respect to elders & gift transfers called as Nuakhai Juhar

         

The household, perfectly cleaned and washed in all its details, is ready to invite the deity to partake (eat or drink) of the first pristine produce of the new season. Considered as an expression of submission, the farmers attribute the good yield to the blessings of the deities. For this reason, the first fruit of the season is also first offered to him/her as a token of reverence and veneration. This history of Nuakhai, which brought the aboriginal and the Hindu caste together now extended to bringing the joint families of western Odisha.

 The surroundings of the houses are made neat and clean, members of the family wear new clothes. Preparations for this occasion start before fifteen days. The rituals are first observed at the temple of the reigning deity of the area or to the village deity. Afterward, the people worship in their respective homes and offer rituals to their family deity and to Lakshmi (the deity of wealth). People put on new clothes for the occasion. Just before one day of the Nabanna, the head of the family goes to the paddy field to collect the new crop in the paddy field. Before collecting the new crop, the head of the family conducts special rituals and puja facing towards east. Then he collects the crops and came to the house. At house also, the senior most lady of the family receives the new crops in the same manner of rituals. In the night the lady members prepare different ingredients for the next day’s food. For special pitha (cooked cakes) and Manda they grind the rice with the help of pestles. During Nuakhai vegetarian dishes are prepared out of newly harvested grains of rice in every home, and after offering them to the deities these are served to the members of the family, men, women, and children sitting together to receive the Prasad in great solemnity and jubilation. They don’t take prasad on dishes or utensils; on that auspicious day they eat on few selected special leaves.

The family deities at home are offered with nua and other sweets like Manda Pitha and Khiri. The youngsters paid respect to their elders and the elders bless to the young. This event is popularly known as Nuakhai Juhar or Bhetghat. Then the group eating starts with different verities of food items like rice, dal, sabji, and hendua karadi khata, saga bhaja, khiri, pitha, manda etc. In the afternoon the members of different communities go to the nearby temples to pay darshan to the local deities on this special occasion. Different type of games and sports, kusti etc. are organized in the locality which becomes quite interesting. In the evening Nuakhai Bhetghat meetings, folk cultural events like dalkhai, rasarkeli, mailajada, ghumra, bazasal etc. are organized which becomes quite enjoyable.

On this occasion cows and bullocks are also bathed and they are worshipped with special puja and rakhees are put on their horns and bodies. They are offered with green grass plentily. Because the help of those domestic animals is quite noteworthy for agricultural operation. This is an exhibition of gratitude and respect to domestic animals. In the morning the head of the family goes to the paddy field and offer puja rituals to the earth mother and deities of the paddy field.

Nuakhai: throughout India

Nuakhai is celebrated with a pomp, pleasure and geity in districts of Odisha like Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Balangir, Bargada, Sundargada, Jharsuguda, Sonepur, Boudh, Nuapada, Koraput and Nabarangpur. People goes to temple local goddess-Manikeswari temple at Bhawanipatna, in case of Bolangir and Patnagarh in the temple of Patnesvari and at Sundargarh and Sonepur in the temple of Sekharavasini and Suresvari respectively.

People of Bhawanipatna celebrate Nuakhai on Bhadraba Sukla Dashami (10^th day) of lunar fortnight because as per the ritual’s goddess Maa Manikeswari take nua anna on this day. In the very next day people celebrate Nuakhai Basi. As all people gathered, after celebrating Nuakhai they also planned for non-vegetarian feast. Generally, Hindus don’t take Non-vegetarian dishes specially Brahmins. But on this day, all are allowed to eat non-vegetarian dishes.

 

The following table represents Indian tribes celebrating Nuakhai in different names-

                       

Tribes	Different names of Nuakhai
Kharia	Jeth Nawakhai
Oraon and Birjia	Nawakhai
Munda	Jom Nawa
Santal	Nawai
Korwa	Dhan Nawakhani
Tripura people	Mikatal

Now a days Nuakhai Bhetghat are being observed and organized at different metropolis like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Chennai, Surat, Kolkata etc. by the people of non-resident west Odishans who are unable to attend the Nuakhai festival in their respective villages. Even in abroad like United States, United Kingdom, Japan, people from Odisha celebrate Nuakhai Bhetghat. This occasion binds them together with social harmony, unity and friendship. The west Odishan culture and music like traditional Sambalpuri folk music, dance and food are exhibited on this occasion.

Finally, it is last but not the least, it teaches unity in diversity and the whole world a family i.e., Vasudhaiva Kutumvakam. In true sense of the term it is a festival of the masses or gana parva. Therefore, this Nabanna or Nuakhai festivals give much importance to anna with a special celebration. Nuakhai is not merely a tradition or festival but it mainly concentrates on the worship of food grain or rice and domestic animals which is the manifestation of life itself.

 

 

Facts:

#During 1991 the then Chief Minister of Odisha late Biju Patnaik passed a historic order to celebrate this occasion on the day of Bhadrava Suklapaksha Panchami, the day following Ganesh Puja has been declared as a State Holiday.

 

🙏🙏🙏  Nuakhai Juhar  🙏🙏🙏

 

Boycott Chinese Product

Can India replace China as World's Factory? 

 INDEX

1. 59 apps

2. Chinese people

3. Chinese politics

4. Chinese products

5. Border Issues

6. how boycott will affect India

Chinese People & Politics:

China, with more than 1.2 billion people, is the most populous country in the world. Overall population density of the country is somewhat over 110 people per square kilo-meter.  90 percent of the Chinese population live on less than 40 percent of the land.

The map is showing the distribution and density of China's population. One tiny dot indicates 50,000 people.

Immediately after the 1949 revolution the Chinese government encouraged its people to have large families in order to increase the work force depleted by years of war. An extensive birth control program has been in effect since the late 1970s. Nowadays, city-dwellers are required to adhere to the one-child policy, and even in the countryside families rarely have more than two or three children.

#MULTI-ETHNIC NATION:

China, like all other large states, is multi-ethnic. The Han people, however, form the large majority, with about 94 percent of the population. While former Chinese governments traditionally acknowledged the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Turkish, and Tibetan ethnic groups, the current Chinese government officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups, including the Han. The Han majority speak Chinese, but most of the minorities speak other languages, falling into 15 main language families.

Below is a map showing the distribution of China's population in terms of the major language families.  Note that what is generally termed Chinese is here divided into Mandarin and Southern.

Which region has the greatest variety of minorities?

Han Chinese are also marked by further linguistic diversity, in that the spoken forms of their different dialects vary as widely as the languages of Europe. All of the Han nonetheless use a common written form of Chinese and share common social organization, values, and cultural characteristics that are recognized as Chinese.

Over the centuries many ethnic groups have been absorbed into the Han majority, especially in the south and west.  Sichuan has always had many ethnic groups, but today the large majority are Han Chinese.

Mongols are one of the largest minorities in China, concentrated especially in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. Many Mongols outside the cities still live in large round tents called yurts.   Politics:   The politics of the Republic of China take place in a framework of a representative democratic republic, whereby the President is head of state and the Premier (President of the Executive Yuan) is head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in primarily with the parliament and limited by government. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The party system is dominated by the Kuomintang (KMT, "Chinese Nationalist Party"), which favours closer links to mainland China, and the Democratic Progressive Party, which favours Taiwanese independence. It is known as republic of china but exactly it is controlled by some higher person, authorities who controls army and also take major steps in the issues of country.   “We are boycotting Chinese Business but not People.” Border Clash: Anti-China sentiment has been on the rise in India since border clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.   1. India is angry after bloody clash on June 15 between Indian and Chinese troops at Galwan. Across the country, there are calls to boycott Chinese products and halt bilateral trades. Union minister even wants to ban selling Chinese food. 2. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in fighting at a disputed border site in the Himalayan Galwan Valley, prompting a swift and theatrical backlash on India’s streets. 3. People in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad hurled Chinese TV sets down their balconies, while traders in the capital, Delhi, protested by burning Chinese goods. 4. A central minister called for a boycott of restaurants selling “Chinese food” - an Indianized version of Chinese cuisine that is hugely popular. China has border issues with many countries. People says that due most populated country china, is unable to look after its public and fails to fulfil their demand. Hence, China attack repeatedly attack on its adjacent countries. China wants to spread its geographical area larger and larger forcefully.     59 Apps: The Government of India has banned 59 Chinese mobile applications, including top social media platforms such as Tik-Tok, WeChat and Helo, to counter the threat posed by these applications to the country’s “sovereignty and security”. Share it, UC browser and shopping app Club factory are among the other prominent apps that have been blocked amid rising tensions between India and China following clashes at the border two weeks ago. In a press release, the government said the applications are engaged in activities “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.” The ban has been imposed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Rules 2009, it said. The govt also cited complaints about data on Indian users being transferred abroad without authorisation. The move could come as a blow to China’s Digital Silk Route ambitions, eroding the valuation of the companies. It could also lead to more countries following India’s cue and acting against these apps, sources told ET. A top official said the government had considered all aspects before taking the decision. “These apps have been there for a long time, and there are some privacy and security issues with them including risks of data going out of the country,” said the person. The statement from the Ministry of Electronics and IT said it had received complaints from various sources, including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers outside India. Here's the complete list of the apps banned: 1. TikTok 2. Shareit 3. Kwai 4. UC Browser 5. Baidu map 6. Shein 7. Clash of Kings 8. DU battery saver 9. Helo 10. Likee 11. YouCam makeup 12. Mi Community 13. CM Browers 14. Virus Cleaner 15. APUS Browser 16. ROMWE 17. Club Factory 18. Newsdog 19. Beutry Plus 20. WeChat 21. UC News 22. QQ Mail 23. Weibo 24. Xender 25. QQ Music 26. QQ Newsfeed 27. Bigo Live 28. Selfie City 29. Mail Master 30. Parallel Space 31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi 32. We Sync 33. ES File Explorer 34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc 35. Meitu 36. Vigo Video 37. New Video Status 38. DU Recorder 39. Vault- Hide 40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio 41. DU Cleaner 42. DU Browser 43. Hago Play with New Friends 44. Cam Scanner 45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile 46. Wonder Camera 47. Photo Wonder 48. QQ Player 49. We Meet 50. Sweet Selfie 51. Baidu Translate 52. Vmate 53. QQ International 54. QQ Security Centre 55. QQ Launcher 56. U Video 57. V fly Status Video 58. Mobile Legends 59. DU Privacy     Ban Recommended by MHA:           “The compilation of the data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” it said. “There have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indians. It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to sovereignty and security of our country.” The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has sent an “exhaustive recommendation for blocking the malicious apps,” the press release said. The Internet Freedom Foundation said, “This is not a legal order issued under Section 69A. Our first ask is transparency and disclosure.” The activist group tweeted such cases needed to be considered individually and not in the aggregate. “There is legitimacy in concerns of data security and citizens’ privacy,” it said. “This may be achieved through regulatory processes that emerge from objective, evidence-based measures. This ensures credible action that protects individual liberty, innovation & security interests.” Spokespeople for Byte-Dance, the owners of TikTok and Helo, and Alibaba, which owns UC Browser, said they could not comment immediately. #WELCOME MOVE:            The Indian competitors of China, who were wrapped under the brand of Chinese Digital Market are welcome the Governments step. Bolo Indya, a rival to TikTok, says it will benefit from the ban on its larger rival. “We welcome the decision as we resonate the concerns raised by the government. This is the opportunity for Bolo Indya and other Indian apps to deliver value, keeping Indian culture and data security at the highest priority,” said its co-founder and CEO Varun Saxena. #LEGALLY SOUND: Analysts said the move will impact the Chinese apps. Although boycott will not affect the physical market of china a lot, it will paralyse the digital world of China – as most of the users of Chinese apps are Indian. “From a tactical perspective, it puts enormous economic pressure because these apps were heavily reliant on Indian markets. From a legal perspective, it is sound because grounds like national security are difficult to challenge in a court of law,” said Santosh Pai, partner at Link Legal, who tracks Chinese investments in the country. “If this is going to be the new state of affairs, we need to see whether Indian apps will fulfil the need or American apps will take market share.” Investors in Indian social apps say that competition will come down due to the ban on 59 Chinese apps. How boycott will affect India? China is India’s biggest trade partner. Most of the market share in India is taken by Chinese people. But India is one of China’s smaller partners (2.1% of Chinese trade). In 2018, India imports 15.3% goods in other hand exports 5.1%. Boycott could hit India’s trade in a big way. According to reports, the government has also asked e-commerce companies to display the country of origin for the products they sell. Few importance points: 1.    India imports a range of products from China, be it raw materials such as steel, minerals etc. or finished products. It would not be economically beneficial to India if it tries to stop the import of finished goods. In this case of raw materials, imports can’t be stopped. 2.    It may choose to switch the source of imports from China to another country. However, this is also not viable as if China is selling at a competitive price, there would be another country willing to buy these products. India will harm its economy by refusing to purchase cheaper commodities.  3.    India's trade deficit with China was $53 billion in 2018-19, which is shrunk by $10 billion. However, this figure was all dressed up as most imports were routed through Hong Kong to make the trade surplus seem smaller. 4.    China's imports from India are around $2.5 billion, which it can afford to buy from alternate sources, and yet it's GDP will not be impacted as much. However, since India imports large quantities from China, it would be a difficult task to find a substitute source that can match the cost and availability of Chinese products. The outcome of this will only impact the Indian GDP. 5.    Several Chinese companies have set up their Indian operations recently under the "Make In India" campaign. A boycott of Chinese goods would result in these companies also facing pressure from China to stop production in India, leading to a considerable loss of employment in these companies. 6.    In the last year, there has been a spurt of Chinese investment in the Indian Start-ups scenario. China has invested in close to 90 Indian companies in a variety of sectors like e-commerce, financial technology, media, social media, aggregation services, and logistics.   Ladakh-based innovator and entrepreneur Sonam Wangchuk has initiated an attempt to boycott china via social media platform. Appeals to boycott Made in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJABmixhJU0 You can Fight with China using Wallets rather than Bullets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnVsWt2PC4w Yes, it is a positive step for all Indians to boycott China; but the question strike in the back-end of our mind is - Can India replace China as world's factory? Is India’s present infrastructure will beat the requirement of Chinese product. Will it satisfy the public demand with a cheap cost? The answer is no. But if Indians are work collectively with strong determination result will be in front of us within few years. Another news is that BCCI lost its Title sponsor Vivo which is a Chinese company. It’s surprising; India’s most popular tournament promotes a Chinese company!! BCCI will have huge losses this year, but public is happy that their favourite IPL will no longer be Chinese promoter. Thus, instead of silly colour coding of products into Indian and foreign categories, we must focus on creating quality Indian brands and products. For, when you have quality products at the right price, people automatically vote with their wallets. On the other hand, if you have substandard Indian products, people won’t go for them no matter how patriotic they are. “To find yourself, think for yourself.”                                      --------     Socrates   In order to bounce back on China, we have to discover good Indian talents and most important thing is to block the brain drains(more on brain drain-> rb.gy/yct36w ). Indian skilled and talented doctor, businessman, engineer prefer to stay in foreign countries after competition of their higher studies. This is the reason why India is still a developing country. It is a good and well-deserved decision taken by Indian country. We shouldn’t enjoy at the cost of life of our frontier soldiers. Soldiers are there for our safety. We should respect them. Boycotting Chinese products without genuine Indian alternatives simply won’t work. We need to be smart here and boost our own manufacturing capacities, especially in strategic sectors. Let us prioritise economic planning and execution instead of giving into our emotions. Government should make a strong effort to discover our home-made products and handicrafts. This is a long game.    Thank You.